Ready availability of private funding is making it easier for companies to stay private for longer. A host of companies that might have ordinarily tapped the public markets for funding, including Slack Technologies Inc. and Pinterest Inc., raised capital from private sources in 2017.

U.S. IPOs raised $49.33 billion through 189 offerings in 2017, more than double 2016’s levels, when $24.2 billion was raised through 111 offerings, according to Dealogic data. The figures also show 2016 was the worst year for IPO volume since 2003.

To make it more attractive for startups to go public earlier, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission could streamline some compliance requirements in 2018, writes WSJ’s Dave Michaels.

On Friday, statistics agency Eurostat publishes flash December inflation data for the eurozone. Annual price growth was 1.5% in November, a tick-up from the prior month. Also on Friday, the U.S. Labor Department releases December figures on the labor market. The jobs report will show year-end trends for hiring, unemployment and wage growth.

CFO JOURNAL EXCLUSIVE

Turbulent sectors, deal making stir CFO hiring. Companies continued to usher in a new generation of finance chiefs in 2017 to help weather rapidly evolving markets and consumer tastes. CFO turnover among the top 1,000 companies was 15% in 2017, a percentage point lower than the 16% posted last year and the same as 2015, according to data collected as of Dec. 15 by Korn/Ferry International, an executive recruitment firm.

CORPORATE NEWS

A coiled track for a track-type machine is moved outside the Caterpillar facility in Morton, Ill., Dec. 8, 2017.

The Wall Street Journal

Caterpillar fights to protect its foreign profits. Caterpillar Inc. is facing a potential tax bill of $2 billion from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service which is challenging the amounts paid on profits from parts sales made through the company’s Swiss unit, called Caterpillar SARL.

Compass Group confirms death of CEO.British contract caterer Compass Group PLC on Monday confirmed that Group Chief Executive Richard Cousins and four members of his family died in a plane crash in Australia a day earlier. Mr. Cousins will be succeeded by Dominic Blakemore, the company’s CEO for Europe, reports Reuters.

Steinhoff to restate financial results.South African retailer Steinhoff International Holdings NV said it will restate financial results going back as far as 2015 amid a probe into accounting irregularities, reports Bloomberg.

U.S., European drug approvals up.U.S. drug approvals rose to a 21-year high in 2017, with 46 novel medicines gaining a green light -- more than double the previous year -- while the figure also crept up in the European Union, reports Reuters.

EU regulator tracks how companies use ‘big data’.European Union antitrust regulators are eyeing an increasingly important corporate currency: data. The EU’s competition chief is zeroing in on how companies stockpile and use so-called big data -- a move that diverges starkly from a hands-off approach in the U.S., where regulators emphasize the benefits big data brings to innovation.

Europe readies for Brexit.Britain's exit from the European Union is expected to dominate this year’s financial-regulation agenda in Europe, as banks and financial-services firms get down to making concrete plans to tackle the U.K.’s separation from the rest of the bloc.

Chinese SOEs institutionalize compliance systems.Chinese state-owned enterprises are setting up institutional compliance systems for the first time, reports the Financial Times. This comes as regulators roll out new anti-bribery guidelines in the latest crackdown on corruption by President Xi Jinping.

ECONOMY

Twenty and five dollar bills are displayed in San Anselmo, Calif., Aug. 29, 2017.

Getty Images

Dollar could get a lift from tax overhaul. Investors believe the U.S. tax overhaul could juice an already-growing economy, push the Federal Reserve to raise rates at a faster pace and encourage corporations to repatriate some of the estimated $1 trillion they hold abroad in cash -- all outcomes that could fuel a dollar rally.

Meanwhile, soaring stock prices across the globe added more than $9 trillion in market value to equity markets in 2017, the biggest one-year increase since the financial crisis. That is presenting public pension funds with a dilemma, writes WSJ’s Heather Gillers.

Canadian firms’ deal making might slow in 2018.Despite uncertainty around the North American Free Trade Agreement, mergers and acquisitions involving Canadian companies were strong in 2017, though deal activity could cool in 2018, bankers and companies say.

The Morning Ledger from CFO Journal cues up the most important news in corporate finance every weekday morning. Nina Trentmann contributed to today's Ledger. Send tips, suggestions and complaints to the editor: kimberly.johnson@wsj.com.